Curse Me for a Novice
by sudoku
Summary: "Curse me for a novice. I should've known they're allergic to high frequency sound." Stephen was dangling upside down because his two feet and torso were wrapped by a giant octopus from the aptly named Octopdia Dimension. Stephen felt bad as he didn't know every possible threat to Earth. Wong tried to make him feel better. As the result, Stephen thought of other catchphrases.


-Unbetaed and not a native speaker so please kindly point out any mistakes  
-Warning: Terrible science and jokes

* * *

"Curse me for a novice. I should've known they're allergic to high frequency sound." Stephen was dangling upside down because his two feet and torso were wrapped by a giant octopus from the aptly named Octopdia Dimension. It looked like a regular Earth octopus except its height was 150 feet, it had ten heads, fifty hearts, and a thousand tentacles of different colors (each of these tentacles produced poisonous inks with the same colors). Perhaps it was not like a regular Earth octopus because after all Stephen was not an octopus expert and it was hard to think when his head was under his feet and he had the additional worry of being eaten by the said Octopus.

Luckily his hands were free so he used a spell that produced a high pitch of 50,000 Hz as he didn't want to take any chances it would hurt the nearby Avengers and Wong. The Alien Octopi were shaking because of the said frequency. Unfortunately, it didn't release Stephen immediately so his body was tossed around. The Cloak couldn't release the tentacles' hold so she tried to cushion Stephen whenever he was about to hit hard surfaces. Stephen still could feel some bruises forming. He just hoped no bones was broken this time.

After what felt like eternity but actually only two minutes, the Octopi finally gave up. Stephen's fall to a nearby crevice was saved by the Cloak. After being upright for a minute and all his blood wasn't rushing to his head anymore, he threw portals at the Octopi to return them to their dimension.

Spider-Man's excited sound could be heard from the comm. "That's the most beautiful group of octopuses I've ever encountered. Is your adventure always this exciting Doctor Strange?"

"Not a group of octopuses, they're called octopi." Stephen corrected.

Before he could answer more, Tony interrupted them. "I like nerdy discussion about grammar and octopus like any other geeky superhero but I'm covered in multi colored slime so I prefer if we clean ourselves up. We could talk at the party at my place tonight at 7 pm. Be early or fashionably late. I don't care. Dumbledore and Wong, you're invited but please leave your strangeness outside. I prefer you don't wear those monk robes at the party. Doesn't mean you can go au naturel but if that's your preference, who am I to judge? Peter, go home and do your homework. Can't believe I said that. Ciao."

Stephen did some check up on the Avengers. Most of them suffered only minor bruises and cuts which were small miracles by itself. He healed them to the best of his abilities. He felt some pain as he moved his body so perhaps his ribs were bruised. Wong stared suspiciously at him so he pretended nothing was wrong. He was the Master of the New York Sanctum and a doctor. He could take care of himself.

Stephen and Wong did some repairing spells. They also use spells to clean up the inks from the Avengers' bodies. Stephen quietly snickered as he thought about what Tony missed out.

The Avengers shook hands with Stephen and Wong after they finished.

The last one to shake his hand was Steve Rogers. "Thank you Doctor Strange for all your help with the er… Alien Octopi. This is not the area that the Avengers are familiar with. You're always welcome to join the Avengers. I apologize for Tony's parting remark. He's always like that but he meant well."

Stephen smiled. "I know. I'm used to it. My answer about joining the Avengers is still the same as before. I'm more needed in defending the Earth from multidimensional threats unless the threats intersected like today. Thanks for the offer."

Spider-Man swung by and landed next to Stephen. "I hope they intersected more often so we could see your cool magic."

Stephen and Steve said in unison. "Go home and do your homework." They turned to each other and grinned.

Spider-Man grumbled as he shook his head and shot his web shooter at a nearby building. "Adults were no fun. See you at the party."

Steve asked, "Are you coming to the party?"

Stephen was about to refuse but Wong quickly replied, "We are."

"Are we?" Stephen challenged.

"Yes. You need a life, Stephen." Wong replied as he opened a portal to the Sanctum. "See you tonight, Captain."

"See you." Steve waved at them as they stepped through the portal.

As soon as the portal closed, Wong dragged Stephen to the kitchen. "You need to eat. How many days have you skipped meals?"

Stephen was about to argue but his stomach's grumble betrayed him.

Stephen ordered Chinese because between the two of them, he was the one with a bit of money.

While they were waiting for their food, Wong stared at him. "Let me look at your ribs first."

"Wong, I can heal myself."

"But you won't. You treat others but not yourself. You're the worst doctor I've ever met."

"Obviously you haven't met Doctor Doom or Doctor Reed Richards? They're not medical doctors."

Wong sighed as he healed Stephen.

While they were eating their Lo Mien, Wong said, "I heard what you said before."

"Wong, I said a lot of things. You need to be more specific."

"About being a novice. It's not good to curse yourself even it is just a saying. And it's true you're indeed a novice, so don't feel bad about that."

"Wong, I'm the Master of the New York Sanctum. Other masters want me to be the next Sorcerer Supreme. I should've known those Octopi are afraid of high pitches. It's my responsibility to know every interdimensional threat to this Earth."

"Stephen, you know that's not a realistic goal. That's why you need a network of friends to help you."

"Is that the reason you agree on my behalf about the party?"

"Perhaps." Wong did a mini shrug which was unnoticeable unless somebody had lived with him for more than one year. "How long have you learned the Mystic Arts?"

"Around two years. But I've lived and perfected my skills in two thousand years while I fought Dormammu. Not to mention I lived and died through the 14,600,005 futures. I should have learned a lot."

"Outside of those two _actual_ years, how were you going to learn about alien Octopi in the Dark Dimension and in those possible futures? Did you peek at other knowledge besides surviving Dormammu and finding ways to win against Thanos?"

"Of course not. But I should've known after I return from the Decimation. It's my responsibility."

"It's the responsibility for all Masters of the Mystic Arts, not only yourself. I'll only say it once before you tried to beat yourself up for not being prepared and mope and stew in the libraries for months to learn everything you can about everything."

"I don't mope and stew."

Wong ignored him. "You faced Dormammu even though you only learned Mystic Arts for only six months. You managed to trap Loki in endless portals after learning Mystic Arts for fourteen months. You faced Thanos after learning magic for twenty months. I think you beat yourself up too much. Now I'm regretting saying this as it will feed your ego. What ice cream do we have?" He got up and rummaged through their refrigerator.

Stephen slowly digested what Wong just said. Perhaps he was being ridiculous. Nobody could know about everything. Even the Ancient One had her limitations. But he didn't like being prepared. He could still the phantom pricks of Squidward's needles at the spaceship.

Sophie could feel his insecurities and tried to caress his cheeks. He swatted her. She massaged his shoulders instead. He should put what Wong said at the backburner so Wong wouldn't be worried about him. It was his job to worry.

Wong returned to the table with a tub of Strange's Magic Berries, two bowls, and two spoons. "This definitely would feed your ego even more. But I guess you deserved it for saving the day today."

Stephen grinned. "Does it mean I need another catchphrase instead of _Curse Me for A Novice_?"

"Oh my Oshtur, you don't need any catchphrases. Any self-respecting superhero doesn't need one."

"It's a good thing that I'm neither self-respecting nor a superhero. How about _By the Omnipotent Osthur_? How about _By the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth_? Or _By the Mystic Moons of Munnopor_? They rhymed."

Wong hid his face with his palms.

* * *

Notes:

-This story stemmed from a recent Doctor Strange comic (Doctor Strange #20, 2019) where his laptop's password was "Curseme4anovice" that reminded me that Stephen had a lot of catchphrases in the comic.  
ranker dot com/list/best-doctor-strange-spells/ranker-comics  
cbr dot com/doctor-strange-curse-me-novice/  
Perhaps some of them would catch on in MCU.


End file.
